Sharpen Your Skills, Deepen Your Practice
Serve Your Students Better

Carolina Yoga is the yoga school comprised of Carrboro Yoga, Durham Yoga, and Hillsborough Yoga in central North Carolina. Our advanced studies 500-hour yoga teacher training is for teachers who have completed a 200-hour teacher training, either with us or elsewhere. In the program, you’ll deepen your understanding of yoga pedagogy, philosophy, and professionalism and sharpen your skills so that you can better serve your students and your community. Upon graduation, you’ll be able to register for the Yoga Alliance 500 RYT designation.

Our 500-hour yoga teacher training program contains both required modules and electives. You’ll finish with a thorough grounding in alignment, anatomy, and yoga’s transformative tools, while having freedom to explore in depth the special topics that most interest you. The required and elective modules are all offered numerous times over the five-year period of your enrollment, so you can choose to complete them at your convenience. They do not need to be done in the order listed; choose the schedule that works for you.

Required Modules

Core Curriculum with Mira Shani, including alignment, assists, theme integration, language refinement, and key skills to elevate your teaching. This core curriculum involves a great deal of individual feedback and support. This module will meet once a month for six months on the third weekend of the month from September through March 2018–19, with no class in December (90-hour multiweekend module).

In odd-numbered years, we offer a summer intensive including the core curriculum, Sequencing Yoga Classes, Yoga and Positive Psychology, and more. This approach allows you to cover most of the requirements and some of the electives all in one glorious stretch of immersion in Carrboro! This next happens in summer 2019, with the core units sprinkled throughout.

Each module (or an appropriate substitute) will be offered at least twice during your five-year contract.

Elective Modules

In addition, you will choose from a number of elective modules that meet or exceed the remaining required 50 hours.

Yoga for Seniors with Carol Krucoff (8-day/50-hour module). As it is held at the Duke Center for Integrative Medicine, we cannot extend a discount to this program. If this is your elective, you may graduate after completing the required modules and this module.

Whole Mama Prenatal and Postnatal Yoga Teacher Training with Alexandra DeSiato and Lauren Sacks (85-hour module). If this is your elective, you may graduate after completing the required modules and this module. In addition, it qualifies you for the Yoga Alliance’s specialization in prenatal yoga. Alexandra and Lauren next offer this module in the summer of 2019.

Teaching Yoga for Athletes with Sage Rountree (40-hour weeklong module, with online/mentorship alternative). You will need another elective module in order to graduate after completing the requirement modules. Sage next offers this module July 15–19, 2019.

Therapeutic Essentials for Public and Private Yoga (40-hour weeklong module). You will need another elective module in order to graduate after completing the requirement modules.

Rhythmic Flow Weekend with the Kunga Drummers and Thai Yoga Massage with Kristin Cooper (10-hour weekend module), which may be coupled with Yoga for Athletes or Yoga Therapeutics to complete the required 50 hours. Kristin will offer this module November 2018.

Introduction to Ayurveda or Energetic Body—whichever was not chosen as a required module (12-hour weekend modules).

These last three or their equivalents meet the remaining elective hour requirements. Other offsite workshops will be considered as electives case by case.

Enrollment

Begin by completing the application online. Upon acceptance, you will pay a $750 initial fee. This fee entitles you to enrollment in the 500-hour program and a 15 percent discount on all—yes, ALL!—workshops hosted by Carrboro Yoga Company, Durham Yoga Company, and Hillsborough Yoga Company for five years from your enrollment date. This discount takes the place of the smaller early-bird discount—that is, it is 15 percent off the full price. Committing to workshops early ensures they have enough students to take place. You’ll also sign our contract, and you’ll enter our system, so we will keep track of your progress toward completion.

Pricing

To estimate cost, begin with the $750 enrollment fee, then factor in the pricing for the required modules, which you’ll find listed on our Continuing Education page. Beyond these base costs, the total cost of the program depends on the electives you choose.

Travel

With our unique summer immersion offered in odd-numbered years, our program regularly appeals to visitors from out of town. We are delighted to welcome students from across the continent and beyond; participants have come from as far as Sweden and Hong Kong. Our travel accommodations page will get you started.

Faculty

These are a few of our faculty members.

FAQ

Q: Is this a 200-hour, a 300-hour, or a 500-hour program?

A: Technically, as per the Yoga Alliance guidelines, it’s a 270-hour program that, in combination with a 230-hour teacher training (like ours; these are commonly called 200-hour programs) will qualify you to register with the Yoga Alliance at the 500-hour level.

Q: How long do I have to complete the program?

A: Five years from your enrollment date. We offer both required and elective modules several times in a five-year cycle, so you can schedule at your convenience.

Q: What if I have to pull out of the program?

A: As you have five years to complete the program, there’s ample time to step away if your life circumstances change. Your $750 enrollment fee is nonrefundable.

Q: Tell me more about the 15 percent workshop discount.

A: When you register, you’ll receive a code that will give you 15 percent off all workshops at Carrboro Yoga, Durham Yoga, and Hillsborough Yoga for five years. This applies to any workshop, not just the required and elective modules, as each workshop we offer will help you further your understanding of yoga. Please note: the 15 percent is calculated from the workshop’s base rate, not the early-bird rate; it equates to more than double the early-bird discount. We appreciate your early registration for workshops, though, as it ensures each workshop hits minimum attendance.

Q: Is the program friendly to out-of-towners?

A: Very! We always have several distance students enrolled, and our graduates include teachers based in Hong Kong and Sweden. We offer the core curriculum in even-to-odd numbered years (e.g., 2020–21) in a one-weekend-a-month format over six months, and again in odd-numbered summers (e.g., 2021) as a summer intensive, which means that you will have a cohort to move through with (it’s so fun to be back with a core group of colleagues, just like in your 200), but also that you can make up ones you have to miss pretty quickly.

Carrboro is a lovely, walkable town with accommodations at every price point and great dining and culture. Visit our Travel Accommodations page to plan your first stay. Out-of-town students usually make a friend over the first visit that they can stay with thereafter!

Q: Do I have to do the modules in the order listed here?

A: Not at all. Start with whatever suits your schedule best. The only prerequisites are, obviously, the numbered segments of the core curriculum: take Alignment 1 before Alignment 2, and Assists 1 before Assists 2.

Testimonials

On the Core Curriculum

“Mira sets high standards for Core Curriculum participants, then creates a nonintimidating environment that supports and loves each student into achieving them. Classes are small enough to get lots of individual coaching from Mira who has an incredible depth and breadth of knowledge. I have become a much better yoga teacher (which I expected) but I have also changed the way I align my own body in practice (something I didn’t expect after 30 years of practicing yoga). As a result, I am able to do asanas previously unavailable to me. This 500-hour YTT program has exceeded my expectations.”

—Deborah Teasley, PhD

“I have studied with many different yoga teachers, but Mira Shani and her core curriculum have transformed the way I think about my role as a teacher and a human being. Mira has a deep well of knowledge and experience, but it is her dynamic enthusiasm and love for her students which create those magical moments of awakening. Mira is a rare gem: a teacher who empowers you with knowledge not only about yoga, but about yourself. She will guide you through a compassionate process of self-discovery, challenging your mind, body, and spirit. This 500-hour training will sharpen your skills, clarify your vision, and focus your philosophy. You will find yourself coming back to Mira again and again for even more wisdom.”

—Liz Priestley

On Professionalism

“I loved this weekend! Sage and Lies did a beautiful job of presenting the important elements of creating a strong foundation for a career in yoga. Framing the weekend around relationships was a wonderful way of making the intimidating aspects of a yoga career (money, the law, ethical dilemmas, etc.) seem accessible and much less scary. I left feeling significantly more confident and inspired about where my career could be one year or five years from now, and more compassionate toward myself about the process of starting out as a new yoga teacher.”

—Elizabeth Bechard

“The weekend workshop Professionalism: A Movement Teachers’ Intensive with Sage Rountree and Lies Sapp, offered as part of Carolina Yoga’s 500 Hour YTT program, was a candid, helpful weekend of open, honest dialogue about the nitty-gritty details and mechanics of what it means to be a professional in the field of yoga. While most of us who teach yoga receive important information about asana, anatomy, and yoga philosophy in our 200-hour programs, many of us begin teaching with no clear understanding of what it means to earn a living wage, maintain financial records, protect ourselves from liability, promote our classes, focus on a clear niche, and effectively market what we are offering. What Sage and Lies do so effectively is provide concrete information, create spaces for open and realistic dialogue, and confront all aspects of the business of teaching—all without losing sight of the philosophical roots of yoga. This weekend renewed my passion for teaching, helped me find a sense of grounding in what can often feel like an amorphous profession, and clarified my intentions (and goals!) as I continue to grow in a profession that I love so much. While this intensive is a required module for the 500-hour program, this weekend contained information that any yoga teacher would find extremely helpful—whether that teacher was brand new to instruction or a seasoned veteran of many years. I cannot recommend it highly enough.”